Put the unpeeled oranges into a suacepan. Cover with water and simmer for 1 hour. Drain and leave until oranges are thoroughly cold (several hours).

Cut into quarters, remove the pips, place ina food processor and process until pulverised. Add the eggs, sugar and lemon juice and process for 1 minute.

Add the baking powder and ground almonds and pulse only to mix. Be careful not to over process.

Pour into a well-greased and lined 23cm cake tin. Bake at 180C in the middle of the oven for 50-60mins until golden and an inserted cake skewer comes out clean. Stand in the tin for 10 mins before turning out onto a cake rack to cool.

Dust with a thick layer of icing sugar. heat 2-3 metal skewers over a gas flame and when red hot, drag them through the icing sugar to make toffee stripes or a diagonal pattern.

How very interesting! Can you describe the texture? I'm having trouble imagining it but the flavors sound delicious._________________God writes a lot of comedy... the trouble is, he's stuck with so many bad actors who don't know how to play funny. -- Garrison Keillor

Yeah, I'm thinking of trying it, but then I noticed the bit about unpeeled oranges with nothing removed but the pips! Er, not even the pith? Or the skin of the segments? ... and if so, how IS the texture? A little chewy possibly?!

That said, the "It's delectably moist and is perfect with some plain yoghurt on the side." did make me copy and print the recipe... I was thinking of creme fraiche tho'... after all, there's yogurt and there's yogurt. Our usual yog is very slightly sour, which could be rather nice with the orange, but there's also the 'Greek' style yog which is smoother and creamier.

It occurs to me tho' that a good dark chocolate sauce would be good with it. But I am a chocoholic and therefore biased. _________________Confusion comes fitted as standard.

Rainey - I'm not quite sure what a financier is? The cake is very moist, due to the amount of liquid the oranges create, not chewy, more melt-in-the-mouth. It's the sort of cake you eat with a fork because it can fall apart, more because of the wetness of the cake than anything else. I hope that helps...I do have a pic of the cake from the magazine I swiped it from, so I can post that if you like.

Griffin - greek style yoghurt would be perfect for this. That's the sort of yoghurt I tend to eat anyway so always forget to say so.

When you boil the oranges, the juice from the oranges infiltrates the pith and the skin making it really soft and mushy. The bitterness is sort of drawn out of the orange. The idea of throwing in the entire orange had me a bit worried too, but after I boiled the oranges and cut them in half I was quite surprised at how different the orange looks after it's been cooked like that. The oranges are even juicier afterwards than they were before cooking...it's quite weird. And no, the cake isn't chewy at all.

A financier is a very rich cake that's made without flour but with lots of eggs, butter and almond meal.

The batter of the financier that I'm fond of is thick and liquid like mayonnaise. Baked up, it rises somewhat from the eggs but is much less airy than a cake with flour and conventional levening. It looks and cuts like cake but has a dense, moist texture. They're quite delicious.

It's just one of those recipes that just doesn't look like it should work!!

lol, that's what I thought when I saw it, i had to try it then just to see if I could make it work!

Rainey, that sounds like the texture of this one. The batter is ever so slightly lumpy, due to the fibres from the oranges, and the size of the grains from the almond meal I use, but it's still fairly fluid and thick. And no, it doesn't rise much, if at all.

I suspect the key is the amount of ground almonds, which probably serve to hold the whole thing together, along with the eggs. Think of all those flourless chocolate cake recipes that are so popular; many of those contain ground almonds as well. Isn't that exactly what a classic reine de saba cake (have I got that right?) is? I'm also thinking that seedless navel oranges would taste better than thin-skinned juice oranges.

This recipe reminds me a little about this one, which was adapted from a recipe that can be found in Trish Deseine's and Nigella Lawson's books (Nigella herself credits Claudia Roden). I can testify to the fact that the boiling of whole oranges is weird (wait till you smell them as they boil and feel their texture once boiled!) but the result is truly outstanding, and unlike any orange cake I'd ever tried before.

I found it very interesting that Gisele calls it Turkish, because it is my understanding that it is also a Jewish recipe: since it is made with zero flour, it is a good dessert for Passover.

I have been making this cake for several years. The original was found in Claudia Roden's recipes. It has since been adapted by many cooking mags.It is always well received. To make it even more decadent you can ice with beautiful chocolate and have a jaffa cake. (jaffa are a choc/orange lolly here in Australia)
Enjoy!

Thanks so much for the link with the lovely photo. I was able to add both to my database so I can try it when I'm cooking again.

I particularly enjoyed the effect of the burnt sugar on the top. Such a simple thing to produce such a charming effect!_________________God writes a lot of comedy... the trouble is, he's stuck with so many bad actors who don't know how to play funny. -- Garrison Keillor

I tried this cake yesterday and it worked beautifully. I didn't have a food processor so I used my blender which probably made the batter a bit smoother than it should have been (I mixed in the almond meal and baking powder in a seperate bowl). I can honestly say that this is one of the easiest cakes I have ever made. Apart from the 1 hour boiling time I had it all mixed and ready to go in about 10 minutes.

It was very different from any cake I have ever tried before, not too sweet and the rind of the orange makes for a nice tang.